Thanks Chris!

A sign in Osceola, Nebraska.

Osceola Brand of Tobacco

Osceola Supply website.

Over the years, Osceola's name would grace such things as towns, a brand of tobacco, and most bizarrely, a chemical supply business.

Osceola was absorbed into the settler canon, stripped of his Indigenous identity.

"The famous Seminole Chief Osceola was buried in Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbor. A press correspondent, who recently visited the place, writes: "Inside of Fort Moultrie is Osceola's grave, a plain slab of marble with an iron-rail fence. Everything round it had been knocked to pieces by our shells, but not one had touched it, or even clipped the flowers around his grave. The inscription on it was this: 'To the memory of Osceola, Indian Chieftain, died in Fort Moultrie, 1838.'"

Settlers began to ascribe mythical qualities to Osceola. Fort Moultrie was damaged during the Battle of Fort Sumter, but the press marvelled that Osceola's grave was unscathed, implying some divine intervention.

'OCEOLA. Patriot and Warrior. Died at Fort Moultrie. January 30th 1838'.

He had wished to be buried in Florida, but his captors instead decapitated his corpse and buried him in a white tomb in the grounds of the fort. His head was displayed as a novelty item in a drug store.

His grave was inscribed with 'Patriot and Warrior', avoiding mention of his Seminole identity.

George Catlin - "Os-ce-o-lá, The Black Drink, a Warrior of Great Distinction"

While not a mēkko (chief), Osceola coordinated Seminole forces in the war until he was captured under a false white flag by U.S. forces. He was imprisoned at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, dying there in 1838. Before his death, George Catlin managed to paint this portrait of the imprisoned Osceola.

A depiction of Osceola in John Sprague's 'The origin, progress, and conclusion of the Florida War (1848).

Editing the final chapter of my book today, which analyses the actions of Osceola in the lead-up to the Second Seminole War. Osceola marshalled the Seminole confederacy to resist removal and personally killed a duplicitous Indian agent, sparking the conflict.

Yet, he would become a settler icon. 🗃️

Today, I became a REAL historian of the US (lost my sanity filing a US tax return).

'W. Gilmore Simms was the author of this amalgamation of history and romance, which like all hybrids, is a monstrosity.'

Pity the haters of the 19th century. With no means of posting scathing online reviews of books they detested, they were reduced to scrawling hateful comments in the front of the book.

🗞️ Show Me two Postdoctoral Fellowships (1 in history, 1 in political science) from the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri!!

Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi | The dry and the wet burn together ‘The dry and the wet burn together’ is a Persian expression invoked when a fire spreads without discrimination. Once...

My most recent piece on the @lrb.co.uk blog: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...

Good morning!

Thanks to @jamescrossland.bsky.social for having me on to discuss this grifter. Particularly enjoyed our discussion of the most bonkers confederate statue ever erected and what it tells us about southern memory. Give it a watch!

Maintaining my principle that I will only go on podcasts hosted by members of the LJMU History Department.

📢 New episode of HISTORY'S DEVILS drops this Thursday - Nathan Bedford Forrest and the origins of the Ku Klux Klan.

Spoiler: they were a shitshow.

Links to podcast in bio 🎧
@edwardmair.bsky.social
#history #america

CONFERENCE - 'Sociability & Political Life', University of York, 3rd/4th July 2026

Get your abstracts in by 14th Feb!

Any UK secondary school History teachers who may follow me on here: I will be organising the annual KCL History Teachers' Network conference that will take place this Summer. Get in touch if you want to be looped in! #EduSky

a cartoon of homer simpson in a space suit laying down ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson in a space suit laying down

Always thought there was an interesting American studies PhD in analysing the long shadow of Watergate through representations of Nixon (and other presidents) in The Simpsons.

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university? When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...

This. This is what it means to close ‘regional’ universities.

When we already knew about Mandelson's links to Epstein, he was given: a cushy Times Radio show, influence over Starmer's Labour Party, the ambassadorship to the US - to name a few things.

People who pointed out his links to Epsten were labelled as 'cranks', until it became inconvenient.

Sky News V @SkyNews X.com "I would claim the friend's privilege to tell Peter that he has been, at best, naïve and foolish, at worst, greedy and duplicitous." @TrevorPTweets reflects on his friendship with Lord Mandelson amid controversy over the former ambassador's association with Epstein.

Hello and welcome to the Sky News Shit-Hot Political Accountability Hour with me, literally Peter Mandelson’s best friend. Sadly there was nobody less obviously compromised who could host a current affairs show

Lecturer in Early Medieval History at King's College London Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Lecturer in Early Medieval History on jobs.ac.uk!

Our department seeks to appoint a Lecturer in Early Medieval History. You will be expected to undertake teaching and research in early medieval history (600–1150 CE) www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQH751/l...

This is an example of the intellectual decline in York’s history department since I left!

Is this because Ali wouldn’t give you a straight answer about the pizzas?

I’m organising a graduate conference in July on Early America! Please see the CfP and circulate wherever you can 🥳

Perhaps the only thing that can save UK universities: protect jobs or risk more weirdo academics running in by-elections.

The New World asked me to speak to some British trans women about what life has been like for them over the past few years - here's what they had to say, in their own words: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...

American Imperialism in the Long Nineteenth Century: A Documentary History, 1775–1919 This four-volume collection brings together a diverse array of primary sources that help contextualise the impacts of American imperialism across the long nineteenth century. These fascinating volumes...

Sounds like a wonderful four-volume collection of documents and commentary that will be of great interest to the BrANCH community and beyond!

Cheers to @alysbeverton.bsky.social, @edwardmair.bsky.social, @Adam Burns & @alex-bryne.bsky.social

A book entitled ‘American Imperialism in the long nineteenth century, volume II’.

All four volumes of ‘American Imperialism in the long nineteenth century’.

Three years of work is all worth it for the excitement of getting your book in the post.

A sign for ‘Oh, Mary!’ at the Trafalgar Theatre in London.

I can say with absolute certainty* that this was the best play on American history I’ve ever seen.

*I’ve still not seen Hamilton.